Tameside Children's Trust

Strategy for children and young people in Tameside

Tameside's Children's Needs Framework

The Children’s Needs Framework is about shifting our focus -wherever possible - preventing children’s needs from escalating. This is so that we are not continually dealing with needs that have become severe, complex and long term. A copy of the Children’s Needs Framework should be available in every workplace in Tameside. Information about the Framework is also available at Tameside Safeguarding Framework

The Framework is based on ‘common processes’ that will assist children and young people in Tameside to make progress against the 5 Every Child Matters outcomes. Every child and young person in Tameside is entitled to: be healthy; be safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; and, achieve economic well-being.

View the Tameside Children's Trust Common Processes Handbook 1.12 MB

Tameside Children’s Needs Framework and Safeguarding Framework are different but complement each other:

• Children’s Needs Framework – the focus is on early intervention to prevent a child/young person’s needs from becoming worse.
• Safeguarding Framework – the focus is on core child protection procedures in accordance with ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (TSO, 2006).

Information about the Safeguarding Framework is available at http://www.tameside.gov.uk/safeguardingframework/section1#1

Do not use ‘common processes’ (including CAF) if you believe that a child/young person you are working with has experienced (or is likely to experience) abuse, significant harm, severe neglect and/or exploitation.

ACT – follow Safeguarding/Child Protection Procedures adopted by your agency/establishment.

The use of the common systems referred to above will break down some of the barriers that exist between organisations and help staff spend their time more effectively.

For illustrative purposes only the following version of the Children's Needs Framework shows how services are currently distributed.

There is a large group of children and young people who need some extra help but are currently not receiving services. A lot of time and energy is taken up by universal service providers trying to find other help and by children being assessed but not receiving a service at the end of the process. In contrast, children and young people with serious difficulties or complex needs have numerous adults working with them. The number of staff involved does not usually lead to correspondingly better outcomes. The services provided can also be dependent on information available to the child, family or person referring about what services exist.

We aim towards a position where appropriate services are provided at the point where they are needed and will be most effective

This will happen by

• Reducing duplication of assessments
• Continuing to develop a model of consultation so that staff in different settings can ring each other for advice not just to refer on. This should help people feel supported in carrying low level risk without the need for specialist services
• Reducing numbers of workers involved in children and young people's lives through a clearer focus on outcomes and lead professional arrangements
• Providing information through a service directory so that parents, young people and staff can find what is appropriate quickly.
• Providing information through JASPER about who else is involved with a family. This will reduce time spent phoning round or referring.
• Reducing the numbers of young people who end up in serious difficulties because they have received help at an earlier stage.

Additional Needs is a very broad term used about children and young people who may need help for very different reasons at levels 2, 3 and 4 of the Children’s Needs Framework, for example (note - this is not a complete list, for more information refer to section 1 of Children’s Needs Framework):

• caring responsibilities
• pregnancy
• emotional, social and/or behavioural difficulties (including anti-social and/ or pre-offending behaviour and/or whose behaviours exceed their parent’s parenting capacity)
• school related difficulties (including extensive absence and/or fixed term exclusions)
• unaccompanied asylum seekers
• where a parent is in a fragile tenancy
• substance misuse
• chronic non-specific illness
• their care is compromised through parental substance misuse, mental health, disability and/or domestic violence.